Users can view the contents of the directory. Without this permission, users cannot list the contents of this directory with ls -l, for example. However, if they only have execute permission for the directory, they can nevertheless access certain files in this directory if they know of their existence.

Write (w)

Users can change the file: They can add or drop data and can even delete the contents of the file. However, this does not include the permission to remove the file completely from the directory as long as they do not have write permissions for the directory where the file is located.

Users can create, rename or delete files in the directory.

Execute (x)

Users can execute the file. This permission is only relevant for files like programs or shell scripts, not for text files. If the operating system can execute the file directly, users do not need read permission to execute the file. However, if the file must me interpreted like a shell script or a perl program, additional read permission is needed.

Users can change into the directory and execute files there. If they do not have read access to that directory they cannot list the files but can access them nevertheless if they know of their existence.